One President to another: 'Let's have error-proof ties'

In the backdrop of the stand-off between Chinese and Indian armies in Ladakh, President Pranab Mukherjee has expressed hope that both the neighbours will ensure an "error-proof" dialogue mechanism for maintaining peace and tranquillity at the borders.

Hosting a banquet in honour of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping, Mukherjee said, "Our nations share a desire for early resolution of the outstanding issues between our States -- including the boundary question. We are both committed to the maintenance of peace and tranquillity at our borders; we both would like to ensure that the dialogue mechanisms that we have created for this purpose are error-proof."

"It is important for us to improve the dialogue and cooperative engagement between our two militaries and constantly strive to enhance the communication between them at all levels," he also said.

He said it was India's sincere belief that the relationship between the two countries evolve to a partnership that is balanced and broad-based.

"We will create significant opportunities for both our countries to take initiatives for mutual benefit in the bilateral context and also to accrue the benefits that we seek from the evolution and growth of Asia," he said, adding that the state visit of the Chinese President was taking place at a time when both the countries were looking forward to a new era in bilateral relations.

Maintaining

that India was happy to see China continuing on its path of robust economic growth and productivity and hoping that it will further contribute to a stronger global economy and peace in the region and the world, he said the people of India see China as a great civilisation, a nation that has achieved unprecedented progress and prosperity in a remarkably short span of time.

"The spectacular success of the People's Republic of China in economic development, poverty alleviation, infrastructure creation and information connectivity is, indeed, inspiring," he said.

Mukherjee expressed happiness over the agreements signed between the two countries and said the pacts for cooperation that "our two governments have signed today in a wide range of areas of common interest reflect the growing maturity in our ties".

"We are now focused on giving a fresh impetus to our joint efforts. We would like to realise the full potential of our many complementaries. At the same time, in order to create and sustain a positive environment for this to happen and endure, it is necessary for us to remain sensitive to each other's concerns and aspirations," he said in his banquet speech.

He also stressed on the need for enhancing trade and economic cooperation.

"To achieve this, we can and must, re-double our efforts to address the trade deficit, provide better market access to each other's goods and explore the opportunities to create cooperation in the infrastructure sector," he said.